Delinquencies on U.S. prime jumbo residential-backed securities nearly tripled in December, to 9.2% from a year earlier, led by California and Florida, Fitch Inc. said Tuesday.
The five states with the highest volume of prime jumbo loans outstanding — California, New York, Florida, Virginia and New Jersey — account for about two-thirds of the loans in question, Fitch said. The delinquency rate for the loans issued in 2006 and 2007, at the height of the housing bubble, rose to 12.7% nationally, from 4.3%, Fitch said.
Delinquencies of 60 days or more on jumbo loans — defined as those issued to buyers needing at least $417,000 in financing — rose in Florida to 16% from 7.3%; in California to 10.8% from 3.5%; in New Jersey to 7.1% from 2.3%; in New York to 5.8% from 1.8% and in Virginia to 5.4% from 2.3%.
The roll rate, or percentage of borrowers who are current on their mortgage one month but miss a payment the following month, reached a seasonal high of 1.3% in December.
Fitch director Vincent Barberio said that despite some improvement in home prices, roll rates have not improved, mostly because of the amount of prime jumbo borrowers who owe more on their mortgages than their home is worth — currently about 33%.
